‘I take zero credit for KBC’

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He’s grilled hundreds of hopefuls, all in awe of his inimitable style, on the Kaun Banega Crorepati hot seat, but the legendary Amitabh Bachchan says he himself would never want to be on the other side of the “divide”. “I don’t think I could go beyond answering two questions,” laughed Mr Bachchan, at the launch of the new season of his successful quiz show, on Thursday evening in Mumbai.
The show — now in its seventh season — will see quite a few changes, Mr Bachchan said, although the basic format remains the same. “The sets have been changed, the prize money has been increased to `7 crore and the time limit for the ‘fastest finger first’ option has been extended to 45 seconds instead of the earlier 30. The number of questions too will be more, 15 in all,” he explained.
Mr Bachchan, whose career received a new lease of life when KBC was originally launched, modestly shrugged off any role in the show’s becoming the phenomenon that it is today. “I take zero credit for the success of this show,” he said. “The show itself is pretty well constructed, well balanced and full of knowledge.”
In KBC’s long journey, the superstar said it was the stories of the contestants themselves that have proved to be the most memorable: “I know that many of the contestants who come to the show are in bad straits and they come with the hope of winning something that’ll help them survive. There are some who don’t even have money to eat. I do try to help when I get to know about these things.”
Mr Bachchan was also bombarded with questions about the “junior” version of the show and whether it was slated for a return. “KBC Junior will not be returning, I can’t tell you much more about that (as it is the channel’s prerogative),” he said.